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Game 7, 2016

Scott Kazmir of the Dodgers tries to build on his first start of the season in which he went six shutout innings, gave up only one hit, walked none and struck out five. He’s 1-1 with a 1.42 ERA in two career starts against the Giants. Johnny Cueto pitches for the Giants. He’s 2-5 with a 2.79 ERA in eight career starts against the Dodgers. He went seven good innings in his first start, giving up one run on six hits, striking out four while walking none.

Happy Birthday to one of yesterday’s heroes: Charlie Culberson is 27 today. Barnes caught Kazmir in his first game, and A.J. has played two in a row, so the younger guy’s playing today. Van Slyke left yesterday’s game with back tightness he says isn’t serious but is persistent.

This makes you appreciate and understand Maddux’s greatness even more. Also makes you wonder (well, does me, anyway) how much more his great mental game paired with the physical gifts of some greatly talented but underachieving hurlers would have achieved. From ThinkBlueLA piece on Stripling…

“I wouldn’t say mechanically, they really didn’t touch me mechanically, but I would say with Maddux there, it was a lot more pitch selection,” Stripling said. “I threw a live BP with him right at my back hip – they had a net behind me and he was standing right there – and he would say ‘Did you see what that batter did right there?’ and I was like ‘No, not really,’ and he was like ‘He kind of stepped open a little bit. Throw it outside corner right here.’ You’d throw it outside corner and they wouldn’t hit it. So it’s pretty incredible to see him to be able to see baseball like that when I’m just up there trying to survive.

“You can kind of read a swing and stuff, but when you let go of the ball, it’s kind of hard to watch the ball and watch [the batter] and all this stuff, and he is just like picking up all these nuances,” added Stripling. “It’s pretty incredible. So that’s one thing I want to get a lot better at because he showed me kind of what it can be. I’m definitely not there yet.”

Current batting averages of the 1-7 hitters in the Dodgers lineup:
Utley .310, Seager .333, Turner .308, Gonzalez 444, Puig .400, Pederson .292, Thompson .400.
Excellent batting averages, but we need to do more with RISP and we have hit only three homers.

I can judge on only what I have seen to date, which is, of course, premature. But Kazmir stayed in after allowing three homers….I must admit that I get too hyper about the Dodgers when they play the Giants.

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